Ashes to Dust, and Sin to Sin
by KogaBlack
Summary: He's made of sin, molded by his dark, gritty history, trying to make up for his past mistakes. The only problem is? 3/4 of Team RWBY are fighting for his affection. If only White Fang, Torchwick, Beacon Academy, and their wild adventures weren't getting in the way of their romantic conquest. (A re-boot to my previous story "Ashes and Dust" )
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, and welcome back to one of my story thingies. I'll save my Author notes after the first chapter of this re-boot. Enjoy!**

A cloaked figure walked through the dark streets of Vale, hugging the frayed, dark grey fabric closer to his frame. The hood drawn over his head, sending shadows cascading over his face, hiding it from any of the passing civilians. Even though anybody walking the city streets at this time of night was rare. Scarce street lamps sent dim light across the sidewalks with a yellow glow. A lone shop, nicely labeled "From dust till dawn" sat fully opened among closed business. The hooded man hesitated a moment to cock his head and curiously looked at the interior through one of the two large windows.

This is about when the thug was thrown though the other window.

Shock wove itself into his body language as the black suited man landed on the pavement, followed by a young red-clad teenager. The girl straightened herself and unfolded a large blood red scythe from its compact form, smiling smugly at the men gathering on the other end of the broken glass.

"Well?" A man dressed in white said. "Go get her!"

At his command, several black suit wearing goons piled out of the store, each wielding an over-sized meat clever like swords. The cloaked man took a step back, an eyebrow raised under the old hood. What the fuck was going on here? Two of the goons peeled off from and made a B-line towards him, each looking more unfriendly than the other. "Hey what the hell you think you're looking at, scrub?" Grunted one as he pulled out a switch blade. "Walk away while you can, but don't be afraid to drop your wallet along the way." The two chuckled as they approached the unmoving man.

"Are you deaf? Or are you asking for a gutting?"

The blade wielding thug lunged forward with a fast swipe. Even faster was the man under the cloak, in the blink of an eye he caught the attackers wrist and used the thugs own inertia to send him stumbling past the man. The hooded man landed a hard cut kick into the other goon's ribs, knocking him onto his back, hard. A sudden sound behind him warned him to turn around and block a reversed-grip downwards stab from a recovered criminal. The attacker recoiled and lunged again, going for another downwards stab, which the cloaked figure redirected off to the side. Then, in a feat of acrobats the cloaked figure leapt into the air with an Arabian side flip, planting both feet on the knife wielding thugs back, and kicked hard, launching the man into the pavement head first. His partner had stumbled back to his feet, hands up, and ready to fight. He didn't get a chance. The hooded man landed a fast 360 kick to his neck, sending the unfortunate black suit wearing man into the formally unbroken window of the store. The grey clad man took a step back from the scene, and another criminal took notice.

"Hey! Who the fuck is this?!" He exclaimed as he slashed overhead with his red cleaver sword. The man grabbed the sword wielder by the wrist, stopping the lethal slash. With a twist of his wrist he forced the attackers arm off to the side, dislocating his arm at several points. He quickly switched his hands holding the goons wrist, jumping up and disarming the man of his blade with a spinning back kick. The man under the cloak used his stolen blade to parry another attacking blade in a wide circle, slashing it across the criminal's stomach in the process. The cut wasn't deep enough to be deadly but it would incapacitate him, and then some. The male under the cloak rammed his shoulder into the poor gutted man, knocking him down.

The red-clad clad girl had already taken care of the rest of the black suits, and the hooded male could almost swear he saw a childish smile on her face. She looked over to him with a look in her eyes that he couldn't place. But before they could do anything, the white suited man, fired a glowing red flare like bullet from his cane. It caught little Red Riding Hood slightly by surprised, and before she could dodge or block it, a man in a frayed grey hood got in between her and the shot, bisecting it with his stolen blade. The dust powered bullet split in two, floating like two fireflies before exploding into clouds of fire and smoke. Red had jumped out of the way, but cloak had taken the blunt of it, yet he sauntered out of the fading red smoke like it was a mild inconvenience. The girl in red hesitated for a second to see if the man was in one piece before realizing that Mr. White suit was making his escape. She gasped, growled, and dashed after him after making sure the elderly shop keeper was ok. The hooded man almost chased after her, but a glimpse of an approaching entity stopped him. She was older than him, but not as tall. Blond, wearing a white dress shirt and a black dress with a weird cape, running across the roof tops with conviction. The man under the old grey hood breathed out a sigh and pulled out two small objects, a pack of beat up cigarettes and a silver lighter with maroon markings. A moment later a cancer stick duly illuminated the strangers face as he walked further down the quiet sidewalk. As smoke poured out of his mouth, the lips of a man that was once called Ethan Xero Benjamin twitched into a smile.

"And the cycle begins anew."

 **Thanks for reading! I'm happy to be re-doing this story in this kind of atmosphere, and to be redesigning the whole "Ethan" character no less. I got really tired of the "whole nothing fazes me" all happy-go-lucky personality Ethan was becoming. I wanted and actual 3-d character with flaws and such. I tried to replace Ethan with a better character in the original "Ashes and Dust" story, if you were lucky enough to read the teaser, but I didn't like how that was going. I wanted to have a better character from the beginning and that's why we're having the reboot! And no, this isn't just the same character with a different story, well almost; same character, but a less sturdy lid on his astounding case of PTSD. This better variant of will be named Koga, (My Japanese last name) because if you have such a horrid past, why would you keep your full name? Anyways I hope to write a better story and make up for some of my past writing mistakes.**

 **Thanks for sticking with me ladies, gents, and whatever you are. It's been a hell of a ride, let's keep it rolling!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, I'm back! I may or may not have been writing this since I uploaded the last chapter. Been awake for nearly two full days, coffee is my best friend. Anyways, enjoy the chapter.**

Mornings at Beacon Academy. Not always the best place to be in the terms of team RWBY. A week had passed since initiation day, and every team was still trying to get into the stride of things. As team RWBY would find out, their week of morning explosions of yelling about stolen objects and complaints would soon become a daily ritual. Today was absolutely no different; someone took Yang's hairbrush, Wiess' brand new shampoo was already opened and half used, Blake's current novel had been read by someone else, and the bookmark was misplaced, and Ruby was frantically searching the room for his signature red scarf. Across the hall, team JNPR was no different, things also going comically wrong for each member. Morning at Beacon were something students sometimes described as hell.

But they weren't. No were near the hell that the student population would be dumped into in the coming years. The real world was harsh, it turned nice men cruel, turned cruel men evil, tortured souls and grinded everything else into dust. The only ever constant other than that, is that Professor Ports lectures and ramblings could bore a Grimm to the end of its life span. As Ruby Rose sat in his class she could have sworn he had never used his weapon in his life, choosing to kill the creatures of dark with his stories that could take up and entire class. Which, unfortunately, this one did. The only thing that killed the mightiest of dangers to the young youth of Vale, was the dismissal bell. Drowning out Ports story with noise. "Oh! It seems we've run out of time. Shame, be sure to read chapter 19!"

Ooblecks fast pace did not make anything better. The sudden change between teaching styles almost jarring to the students, most unable to properly take notes. Yang was on her third broken pencil, and anyone with an insanely trained eye could see Blake's bow twitch every ten seconds in annoyance. It almost seemed that today wasn't going to get any better. Or at least, it did until Professor Goodwitch's class. Like all of her classes, the huntress enjoyed pitting two teams against each other, whether for her own entertainment or for actual learning purposes was anyone's guess. The class itself progressed slowly, Goodwitch having both team JNPR and CRDL duke it out for the majority of the class. Phyrra being the sole member to drag the fight out, everyone else of team JNPR either being downed or worried about a downed member. Later rather than sooner, team CRDL was stumbling off the raised stage, while JNPR was tending to their injuries.

Ruby Rose sat patiently, or as patient as you get for a hyper 15 year old. Her knee bounced up and down, uncontrollably with excitement. Nothing had happened today, so something was bound to show up right? Wiess must have noticed, with an annoyed frown she nudged the red haired girl's knee with her own, a raised eyebrow added to her frown. Ruby mouthed a sorry, and did her best to hold down her legs. Yang slumped down onto her desk, half-lidded eyes betraying her tiredness. Blake ignored the others and focused on the teacher, intent on not getting scolded for their antics.

Midway through the class, someone cleared their throat. Catching the attention of everyone in the class room. Head Master Ospin took a long sip of from his mug, his eyes peering over his glasses, scanning the class room, a young man beside him. The young man wore black shoes, pants, and a black shirt with sleeves stopping just below his elbows. A white half cloak hung around his neck and off his right shoulder ending at wrist height. Gun metal grey shin, and knee pads lined his legs while he wore only one arm guard on his left arm. His left hand was covered by a simple fingerless glove, with the wisp of a tattoo hiding up his sleeve. His right was wrapped in a full fingered black glove, everything else a mystery beyond his white scarf. His hair was black, messy, and went down to where the ends tickled his jawline, which was covered in short facial hair. His eyes were a brown, freckled with gold. A single 2-inch long scar ran diagonally under his left eye.

Opsin and Goodwitch had a small, quick whisper of a conversation, at which point Ospin left with a chuckle and Goodwitch scowling at the new comer. To this he just shrugged, which just angered the professor more than his sudden attendance midway through class. "Fine then." She said briskly.

"Would some team volunteer to spar with…?"

"Koga, Koga Black."

"Some team volunteer to spar with Mr. Black." She said briskly, and Ruby's hand shot up within a second, her body following afterwards, the young girl almost toppling out of her seat, if it wasn't for Yang and Wiess holding her from falling down the aisle. "Ah, yes. Team RWBY, would you kindly." Goodwitch said, waving them over as the rest of the WBY followed behind the R of the team. The four girls loaded up their weapons whilst quietly arguing with each other.

"Ruby, why'd you have to volunteer us? Not that I'm complaining about a good spar, but I was half way into a good day dream." Complained Yang.

"Well…" Ruby started, but before she could finish Wiess glared at the two step-sister.

"Can you two leave it for one minute, before we get in trouble!" Interjected Wiess as she unsheathed her rapier. "At least we're getting participation marks." Blake said, just wanting to get her 2 cents into the short word skirmish.

"Participants, are you ready?" The professor said, waiting with a raised eyebrow. Koga Black walked out to the center of the ring and crossed his arms, his brows furrowed and a frown present.

"So I'm just supposed to fight a trained team of huntresses?" Koga's sarcasm bit through the air and remained unanswered. "Great." He said finally, his voice deep and gravely.

His eyes danced from each member of team RWBY with an untamed excitement. Koga gently traced his hand along the hilt of his sheathed sword. The blade a clipped to a white belt around his waist, the hilt coming out on his left handed side. It was a well-kept black sheath, with white highlights, the hilt was black with a silver square guard. He ended up resting his palm on the very end of the hilt, which seemed to be slightly extended. Team RWBY had taken up their formation. A triangle, Yang up front, Blake and Wiess taking flanks, and Ruby at the back. Goodwitch smirked and signalled for the match to begin, backing off to god knows where to watch three teenage girls gang up on one lone male.

Yang laughed as she launched forward with a right hook, which Koga ducked under, taking a step backwards to dodge the blonde brawlers follow up left uppercut. Koga gently slapped his right hand into Yang's uppercut, sending it slightly off track, barely skimming his jaw. The blonde used her uppercut momentum to lift herself a couple feet into the air, coming back down with a turning kick. The male swordsman blocked the turning kick with his left hand, moving in and grabbing Yang's collar with his right. A quick front leg hook to the back of her landing leg, and Koga Black literally swept Yang off he feet, slamming her down into the ground, landing an inch from laying on her. His face went from a concentrated frown to a small lopsided grin, but in-between that Yang caught a glimpse at his flustered face, and she may or may not have thought of it as cute.

Blake came in with a diagonal slash, forcing Koga to throw himself off of Yang, rolling along the floor to dodge her follow up attack. The young man spun on his back, using his feet to block and redirect Blake's stab into the cement floor while rolling back onto his feet in a crouched position. The black haired teen gave a small smile to the other black haired teen as she struggled to pull the blade out, then he spun past Wiess as she dashed past him with her rapier, pulled a back flip over the white haired high class. Which was smart, or else Ruby would've clipped him, but instead, Ruby used the sniper to launch herself right at Koga, she spun midair and brought the giant red scythe down. Most people would just move away from the scythes range of melee attack. Koga Black was not a normal person, he moved into the red hooded girl's range of attack, the blade barely missed him, imbedding its tip into the floor. Koga grunted as he had the weight of the weapon as the majority rested on his right shoulder, he growled, with almost animal ferocity as he grabbed the scythe staff handle and was about the hurl both the scythe and Ruby Rose at Wiess, who leapt at him using one of her glyphs. He almost did it, until Ruby pulled the trigger and the recoil from the shot sent both the scythe and the wielder flying back, the blade tearing Koga's white cloak, left sleeve, and what should have been his entire right arm.

Ruby skidded back, with the rest of team RWBY, who had all recovered. All had a look of shock on their faces, normally a move like that would have severed the victims arm. Koga cursed, loudly, but not in pain. Slowly he brought his left arm up to his right arm and quickly ripped off the shredded fabric, both sleeve and cloak alike. Underneath, instead of a severed arm, in its shiny silver glory was a metal cybernetic arm. (Think Winter Soldier) Koga looked at the prosthetic with a scowl, then slowly looked at team RWBY, a low growl giving away his anger. His left hand shot for his sheath, and his "robot-arm" came to grip the hilt tightly, unsheathing it only an inch, the grey metal gleaming in the stage lights. The angered young man bared his teeth as he marched towards the four women. The only sound was the metal of his sword scraping against the scabbard as it was drawn painfully slow.

The blade was only half way unsheathed when the bell rang. Shaking everyone from the previous events. Koga stood there for a second, the anger leaking from his face at a noticeable rate. His metal arm let go of the hilt, the blade sliding back into the sheath with a soft click. He stood there, a deep sigh escaping him as everyone left the room clenching and unclenching his metal fist. An hour later Koga Black found himself spread eagle on his bed, unopened boxes laid scattered haphazardly on the floor. Other than that the room was completely bare, save a wall clock. The lone teen had replaced his shirt, covering his prosthetic with a fresh black sleeve and white cloak. The wall clock sent ticks and tocks around the room, reminding the occupant that he was still alive. Unfortunately.

"Fuck" He cursed, rolling off the bed, onto his feet. The fifth sigh of the day escaped his lips. He needed out of here, he felt like a prisoner in a jail cell, and for the first time in his life it wasn't literal. Mr. Black hastily ripped open one of the boxes and snatched out a couple of books out. A second later the black haired teenager escaped out of his room. Walking briskly down the hall, intent on finding an open space to read. The library would be filled during afterschool times, not the place he'd want to be to be alone. Courtyard? Nah, that's be for sports. Nothing like a stray ball or Frisbee to piss off Koga Black. That left only one place for the sword wielder to go. The roof.

Several sets of stairs later, the young man found himself just below the top of Beacon, wind gently blowing around, even from the top. The next floor up almost seemed like a cliff, it was a peaceful scene. Koga took a step back and leaned against the stairwell door frame, books under his arms and a small honest smile on his face. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath in, taking the simple peace and relaxation.

Suddenly a pair of quiet footsteps snapped his eyes open. Koga swiftly took a step into the doorway, mistaken that the quiet noise meant that they were farther down the stairs. Next thing he knew, he was knocked down with a weight landing on top of him. Black hair pooled around his face and the weight started shifting, Koga instinctually placed his hands on the weights hips, supporting it as it slowly and carefully pulled away from him. The young man raised an eyebrow as his brown eyes met the golden eyes of team RWBY's Blake.

 **Thanks for reading, yes I am following my original storyline, just a bit. I plan on branching out and other stuff in the next chapters. For now, I need to sleep, tired doesn't look good on me. Thanks for the support on this story!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **Welp here it is**

Blake was not having a good day, first her bookmark was misplaced, and then Oobleck made note taking almost impossible, making it one day out of many to annoy the golden eyed girl. All she wanted to do after school was find her quiet place and read some books. For the rest of the day if possible, maybe for two. Blake sighed as she grabbed a couple books from her shelf, ignoring the others of her team. Yang was teasing Ruby, who was trying to study with Weiss In other words, lots of noise.

Several flights of stairs later, and Blake was on her way to her secluded spot on the roof, a small smile played across her face at the thought of some peace and relaxation. She looked down at the books she was carrying as she approached the open door to the top of the building. Next thing the poor female knew she had slammed into something, landing down hard onto it. No, not it. Someone. She was laying on top of someone. This someone put hands on her hips as she slowly began to lift herself up, already feeling the heat of a blush on her face, finally her golden gaze met the gold freckled brown eyes of Koga Black.

Koga couldn't help but let his eyebrows raise slightly, betraying his confusion and curiosity. Blake sat upright quickly, eyes wide, shock and embarrassment writing into her body, but not her face. Koga realized that Blake was straddling him, and he still had his hands on her hips. After a seconds hesitation he removed them, but kept his hands up in subtle surrender. They hung there for what seemed like eternity, staring at each other to see who would move first, talk first, do anything first. Finally Koga broke the silence by clearing his throat.

"Do I talk first, or do you talk? How does this usually go down?"

Blake blinked, and jumped off the male, who in turn pulled himself into a sitting position. "I'm so sorry." She said kneeling next to him. Koga shrugged and shifted into a crouch, starting to collect the books that had fallen during the event. "Far from the worst thing that's happened to me." He replied, unconsciously clenching his right fist, which didn't go unnoticed to Blake's trained eyes. She looked away uncomfortably, but looked back when the boy tried to hand her a selection of books. She breathed a thanks as she took them, her fingers brushing his as she collected the novels.

"That's a good read." Koga said, pointing to a book on top of her pile with a half-smile.

Blake smiled. Truth be told she had read the book several time, it was definitely in her top 10. "Yes, I've read it a couple times." Koga nodded, leaning back and sitting down comfortably, he put his hand out, in his palm was Blake's ribbon, which must have fallen off. "I like your ears, they're cute." He stated, offering the peace of fabric innocently.

Blake gasped, dropping her books and grabbing her ears, trying to hide them. She then snatched the ribbon and half turned away from the male. Koga raised an eyebrow in confusion as he hesitantly started picking up the books, again. He awkwardly chuckled and said a sorry under his breath. "I guess the ribbon explains as much." The swordsman said as he understood some of it. Blake finished tying the ribbon, turning back to Koga with a frown. "I just…Don't want people to think of my differently just because of it." Was her soft reply.

"Hey, it's ok. I understand what it's like to be looked at as different based on something you can't control." He said even softer. An awkward left hand of his right Blake looked at his arm, covered in sleeve and cloak, then trailed up to his chest, his neck. His lower jaw was clenched slightly, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know how. His eyes were half closed, intently staring at his arm. Slowly they moved over and rested on her, opening fully with curiosity. Blake blinked and hoped that whatever blush that was brushing his face wasn't noticeable to the man across from her. Koga gave a small smile, holding out the pile of books. "Don't drop them this time, you'll bend the edges." He joked as Blake took them, carefully this time, letting them in her lap. Without another word Koga opened one of his novels and started reading, his eyes gracefully moving back and forth along the page. Blake swallowed the recent events as she slowly opened the book Koga had pointed out, and started reading as well.

* * *

This went on for a while, honestly Koga lost track of time between reading, and actually talking to someone other than himself. He quickly glanced up to the girl across from him, studying her face buried in a book. His lips unconsciously curved into a smile. She had pretty eyes. Koga blinked and stopped on the word he was reading, he did not just think that. The male mentally growled at his own thoughts, closing his eyes and lowering his book.

Blake glanced up from hers, seeing Koga in a type of false sense of sleep. His book down, his head leaning back, eyes closed. His furrowed brows the only thing contrasting the peaceful facade. Blake unconsciously lowered her book, and leaned forward a bit, tilting her head just a bit, to get a better look at his face. Mainly the scar under his left eye. Blake usually didn't like scars, but honestly she couldn't help but think that the imperfection made him look more handsome. The swords-woman moved back in slight shock, she did _not_ just think that. She barely knew the guy to begin with! A sigh later her books were neatly packed up and she stood up as quietly as possible. Koga opened his smoothly and locked at the black haired girl "Leaving?" She nodded.

"It's getting late, my team will be wondering where I've been." She said as she slowly walked past him and down the stairs. Koga followed her with his eyes until the cat eared girl was gone from sight. He sighed and massaged his eyes with his non-metal hand.

"Well, that was an experience." He grumbled to himself, closing his book and setting it down along with the others. The man stretched out his legs and straightened his back until it cracked like a line of firecrackers. Gracefully he pulled in his legs and leaned forward, balancing on the balls of his feet as his gingerly picked up each of his hard cover books before rising to his full height. The orange ball of fire in the sky was low, dimming as it ended its arc over the far away horizon. Koga Black fished a cigarette and a lighter out of his pocket. Letting the tobacco stick hang tightly in his mouth, hesitantly he lit fire to it end and spent several seconds breathing in smoke as he gazed at the setting sun.

"You always hated setting suns, you bastard." Slipped out of his mouth, along with bellowing smoke.

* * *

Koga Black got three-quarters back to his room before he realized that he was carrying one too many books with him. He ran a thumb across the spine, slightly faded to the point where you know it was read a lot, but well kept enough that you could tell it was a personal favourite. Koga turned it over his right hand, testing the weight of the black coloured book, the title was printed in red letters. He shrugged, balancing his books under his left arm as he opened what he deduced was Blake's book to a random page.

Koga Black wasn't usually a fan of books, but he had never shut a book faster than the one in his hand.

No blush of embarrassment came to his face, nor did his face contort into anything other than his usual blank steel glare. He dropped off his books into his room before walking as briskly as possible down the hall. Several doors opened to unfamiliar faces before he got the general location of team RWBY. He wasted twelve minutes before he finally knocked on the right door. Highly trained ears picked up a lot of shuffling and muffled arguing for only four people. A second later the door flung open forcefully, revealing a PJ clad Yang with raised curious brows. Koga raised Blake's book with no context, just wanting to get rid of this thing and get out of there. Yang blinked at him and his unannounced arrival before smiling making a lunge to grab the novel from him,

"Oh hey! I'll take that!"

but he simply moved his arm back, drawing the book out of the brawlers reach. Yang didn't back down, pressing up against the young man still reaching for the book. Slowly Koga raised his eyebrows, his blank face on the brink if breaking into a slightly flustered and embarrassed, a slight hint of red on his face, which was Yang's master plan. It didn't help that her clothing consisting of nothing more than an orange tank top and black short shorts. "Pretty please?" She whispered seductively as she batted her eyes at him pleadingly. It took everything in Koga not to show any emotion as Yang pressed harder against him, her arm reaching for the book. Luckily for him it didn't last long, as the rest of team RWBY appeared in the doorway, curious to what had kept Yang's attention for so long.

"Yang, leave him alone." Came Blake's voice, followed by Ruby's giggles at the whole thing. Yang back off a bit, distracted by her team. Just distracted enough for Koga to lightly toss the book over to Blake, who caught it, surprised by the book. Her face lit up bright red as she read the title, looking up shocked at Koga, who shrugged and looked away, mainly because Yang was still inappropriately close to him, and everyone was in sleep clothes.

"You're welcome." Was Koga's only words as he stepped back from Yang, and turned to leave. Shoving his hands into his pockets as he went. He wasn't deaf as Yang teased Blake and Weiss said something about his rude behaviour to Ruby. Koga stopped and looked over his shoulder at the white haired girl in the room, who caught his line of site. "You're a Schnee, right?"

"Why yes, I am, why?"

Koga chuckled and started walking away. "You're family is fucking pathetic.."

Weiss shouted something, and the others gasped, but Koga wasn't listening, too busy walking down the halls, heading towards his own dorm room. He was fucking tired, and just wanted the day to end.

 **Thanks for reading! I'm trying the add extra length the each of the new chapters, so they may take longer. Other than that, chapter 4 should be done soon.**


End file.
